In recent weeks, parking problems have plagued the mornings of hundreds of C.K.M. students. Students with and without parking passes have been forced to park on surrounding neighborhood streets, often earning them parking tickets and long walks to class.
The closest street on which students can legally park is Third Avenue, a ten minute walk from the school.
“I think it’s illogical, unfair, and irresponsible to expect students to walk such long distances and risk parking violations when there are so many unused spots in the staff lot,” said RJ Czajkowski (‘20).
However, even students with C.K.M. parking passes have had difficulties recently.
“Parking spots aren’t designated, so you are never assured a spot,” said Ysa Farland (‘19). “Luckily for me, I get there for zero period so the lot is empty.” Other students have not had such luck.
As April Alford (‘20) stated, “A good amount of students, who would be late if they parked on Third Avenue, park in the front of the school.”
One such student, Maddie Elkins (‘20), was called out of class to move her vehicle last week.
“I got my license and car after the school year had started, so there wasn’t an option for me to attain a parking pass,” said Elkins. “For the first few weeks, I would park on Third.”
However, walking back to her car after she finished soccer practice became unsafe in the dark, she went on to say. “That’s why I started to park at the front. When I was called out of class because I needed to move my car, I was incredibly angry because the school offered no safe, constant option for new drivers and pulled me out of class to move my car.”
Daisy Lewis (‘19) also had significant difficulty obtaining a parking pass. “Since I wasn’t there on orientation day, I wasn’t there to get a pass in person. I sent emails to admin and Hubbard, but no one responded or helped. So, I talked to Officer Graham around the first two weeks of school, and he put me on a waiting list, which had two other students on it. I was never contacted,” said Lewis. “In the beginning of the year I would drive for ten minutes to school, park on 17th, then spend fifteen minutes walking to class!”
Campus security has recently cracked down on students, only allowing those with passes to enter the lot. However, many students with parking passes do not regularly use them. “There’s no way to find out who isn’t using [their pass] because parking is unassigned,” said Alford.
This is no new issue at C.K.M., and many students have ideas of reforms that would provide better student parking situations. Czajkowski added that “After talking with Officer Graham, it’s clear that no solution will change the fact that our campus simply isn’t built to accommodate the amount of parking needed for students, staff, and visitors.”
Alford and Elkins also proposed a switch of the student and teacher parking lots. They believe this change would allow more students a safe and close place to park.